The Bacolod City and Negros Occidental governments were urged to look at the possibility of giving tax incentives to companies that offer calibrated trainings related to Information Technology and outsourcing operations, to attract more investors in this growing industry.

This as real estate and international research firm, Colliers-Philippines, projected that Bacolod would remain as a preferred area for outsourcing operations but there is a need for public and private partnerships to train more local talents in the city and the province, it said.

Among the recommendations of Colliers is for the city government, universities, and employers to work together in providing calibrated trainings to college graduates.

The local government can help reduce the employers’ training cost by enrolling qualified graduates to the Training for Work (TFW) program provided for free by the government-run Negros Occidental Language and Information Technology Center (NOLITC), Colliers said.

It added that the facility provides 840 hours of animation training, 487 hours of visual graphic design instruction, and almost 400 hours of medical transcription training.

These are crucial skills required by KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) companies planning to invest in Bacolod City and Colliers is urging local universities to consider incorporating the training program in their curricula.

The city and provincial governments should look at the possibility of granting additional tax incentives to private training centers that will open shop in Bacolod and endorse them for inclusion in the Board of Investment’s list of preferred activities that grants tax perks to qualified businesses.

If there are more private training centers to locate in Bacolod, it will contribute to greater office space absorption and will reshape the design of future office space in the city, Colliers also said.

“We see the influx of these private training centers propelling the need to develop flexible and collaborative workplace in Bacolod. This is another opportunity that flexible workspace operators should look at,” it added.*